Cleland Colliery

Overview

The long-worked coalfield of the Cleland estate near Motherwell, whose numbered pits, beyond No. 40, were leased to several concerns at once: in 1862 Robert Stewart of Murdiston worked No. 34 while W. S. Dixon worked No. 3, where three men died replacing a crown beam at the shaft bottom that January.

History

Cleland Colliery was the coal of the Cleland estate, by the village of Cleland near Motherwell, worked through a long series of numbered pits that ran beyond No. 40. In 1846 a miner was badly hurt by a joint of ironstone falling in pit No. 13. In the 1860s the pits were held by more than one lessee: Robert Stewart of Murdiston worked No. 34 in 1862 and No. 30 in 1864, while No. 3 belonged to W. S. Dixon.

On 8 January 1862 several tons of rubbish and stones fell on four men replacing a crown beam at the cube road near the bottom of No. 3 pit; the oversman James Cranston and two brushers were killed. No. 3 Pit, Cleland, was part of Dixon's Carfin Colliery by 1878, when a surfaceman fell 100 fathoms down its shaft.

In 1902 Barr and Higgins owned a pit at Cleland, where a fireman died in an explosion of firedamp. The Cleland workings appear on abandonment plans from 1875 (No. 41) to 1897, and in a combined plan with Knownoblehill, Biggarford, Carfin, Newhouse and Legbrannock abandoned in 1925.

Geology

Coal and ironstone of the Lanarkshire coalfield: the Ell, Splint and Lower Drumgray coals appear on Cleland plans, and the combined plan of 1925 covers the Humph, Splint, Ell, Pyotshaw, Blackband, Virtuewell, Drumgray, Main, Kiltongue and Virgin.

Workings

Many numbered pits across the estate, at least to No. 41; No. 3 was about 100 fathoms deep, with a cube road near its foot.

Closure

Unknown. Cleland plans are dated from 1875 to 1897, and the combined Cleland and Carfin district plan to 1925.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• On 8 January 1862 a fall of rubbish and stones near the bottom of No. 3 pit, Cleland Colliery, killed three men replacing a crown beam. ¹
• In 1862 No. 3 pit belonged to W. S. Dixon and No. 34 pit to Robert Stewart of Murdiston. ¹
• No. 3 Pit, Cleland, was part of Dixon's Carfin Colliery in 1878 and its shaft was 100 fathoms deep. ²
• A fireman was killed by an explosion of firedamp at Barr and Higgins's Cleland pit in 1902. ³
• Cleland No. 41 pit's Ell and Splint workings were abandoned in 1875. ⁴
• Cleland is a village with a strong coal-mining heritage near Motherwell and Wishaw. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Shotts parish accidents — Scottish Mining Website
2. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Lanarkshire accidents 1870-1899 (Bothwell, Bellshill, Uddingston) — Scottish Mining Website
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Cleland, 1902 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Cleland No. 41, Ell and Splint, abandoned 1875 — British Geological Survey
5. (secondary) Wikipedia: Cleland, North Lanarkshire — Wikipedia
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Cleland, Ell, abandoned 1897 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Cleland, Knownoblehill, Biggarford, Carfin, Newhouse and Legbrannock, abandoned 1925 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 13 October 2026 · Last researched: 13 October 2026